


Moonlight

by glimmerFae (harmicist)



Series: The Weight of Love [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Minor Sombra | Olivia Colomar/Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix, Moira isnt a total P.O.S, Not Actually Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:41:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23360368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmicist/pseuds/glimmerFae
Summary: "A dreamer is one who finds their way by moonlight, and their punishment is that they see the dawn before the rest of the world."XXXXThe moonlight here was as lonely as it was everywhere else that wasn't objectively the middle of nowhere. Light pollution had led to all the stars vanishing from the sky on the worst nights, but tonight the sky was clear. Dim twinkles shone down at her from millions of light years away.No, the moon wasn't lonely tonight. It was Moira who felt such a thing, but damned if she'd admit such a failing; thus, the need for allegory.XXXXMoira finally is faced with the weight of her choice, and presented with new ones when Ana Amari followed Gabriel Reyes back to their temporary hideout.
Relationships: Ana Amari/Moira O'Deorain
Series: The Weight of Love [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/825501
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel work to "Blue Lotus," my other Ana/Moira fic. If you've not read it, I highly suggest you do, otherwise you may be lost at points in this fic. It also is apart of my "the weight of love" series, which is a mcrey series. You do not have to read the other works, but if you're interested in whats going on with Reyes and McCree, that's where I'd go. I'm also working on a spiderbyte fic that goes on in this same universe.

The moonlight here was as lonely as it was everywhere else that wasn't objectively the middle of nowhere. Light pollution had led to all the stars vanishing from the sky on the worst nights, but tonight the sky was clear. Dim twinkles shone down at her from millions of light years away.

No, the moon wasn't lonely tonight. It was Moira who felt such a thing, but damned if she'd admit such a failing; thus, the need for allegory.

"Oof, what are you still doing awake?" A subtly amused voice asked, and Moira wasn't surprised to find Sombra dressed in just a t-shirt undoubtedly stolen from either Gabriel or Siebren's things and socks, standing in the doorframe.

"I could ask the same of you." Moira hummed, patient. "But I could also realize you were simply still working on something, and you couldn't yet afford the time to rest. I hope you stole that from Siebren, Gabriel will be considerably grouchy already without having to liberate another shirt from you."

"Eh, he's in his tube." Sombra rolled her eyes, giving an easy smile. "I can 'afford' to wear this right now." She said, and Moira's eyebrow quirked at the use of her earlier word, not oblivious to the subtle jab.

"And if I said he can see through my eyes and is seething in fury at this moment?" Moira posited the idea, innocently, knowing full well that such a concept would be horrifying to Sombra. She wasn't disappointed when the younger woman looked at her, incredulous, purple eyes enormous, and smile absent.

"You're joking, right?" Sombra asked, clearly able to believe that the geneticist was capable of anything.

She maintained her cool façade for only a moment longer, before she broke with a chuckle. "Of course not. As connected as he and I are, he is, as you mention, in his tube." Her fingers rub against the marble railings of their Rome safe house, a cross between a liberated Blackwatch facilities and their new life in Talon. "But he will be grouchy when he wakes up. Treatments aren't exactly his favorite thing in the world."

Moira amused herself by watching the relief, and then sudden realization play out in her eyes, as she finds that Moira didn't deny _all_ possible telepathic communications; just denied being able to do it while Gabriel was asleep.

_Following the disasters in Cairo, her Reaper had shown up at her doorstep, Sombra in tow, forcing him to keep walking._

" _He's not looking too good, doc," Sombra had grimaced, and Moira shrugged, giving Reaper a disappointed look._

" _It's not the first time he's been caught in an explosion, and I doubt it'll be his last."_

They'd worked together to get him into his treatment pod, and then turned it on. Reaper hadn't needed such a drastic step since Zurich, but it did make sense as to why they'd hurried back to here, of all places, their tails between their legs.

"Speaking of the big guy," Sombra left the frame, finally walking to stand beside her. "I'm surprised he's not out here with you. Wasn't he an astrophysicist?"

"Yes, he was." Moira agreed, voice heavy. "But of all of us, he's the one who _needs_ sleep. I'd rather not find out what occurs when he's overworked or exhausted."

Sombra was silent for a second, contemplating that, before she nodded. "You know, when you put it like that, I think we can agree there."'

Both Sombra and Moira had been apart of the group that had broken the doctor out of The Hague's secret facility. Both saw the devastation that the man had the capability of causing. They were only lucky that Sigma still had the mind to understand the difference between his prison guards and the group breaking him out, and had worked with them.

While the man underneath the madness was pleasant enough, even being kind and funny when the mood struck him; both knew what he was capable of. It was a respect Sombra didn't even give Gabriel, at her own peril.

"So, if Gabe's in his tube, and the big guy's asleep…" Sombra held up two fingers, and then lifted a third. "Lacroix being taken care of," She smiled lasciviously at that, but Moira didn't offer her any change of expression; she knew all too well that the two had frequent sexual encounters. It was good, for Lacroix, to work off her excess energy in such a manner. "That doesn't leave a whole lot for you to be doing out here alone."

Moira breathed out any irritation through her nose. "Perhaps I just enjoy the night."

"Easy, Dracula." Sombra teased. "I was just wondering if you thought someone was coming for us."

It was rare for Sombra to lay her thoughts out so plainly.

"Were you followed?" Moira asked, and Sombra shifted.

"I was concerned that we could have been, but Gabe didn't think it was possible."

Moira straightened, concern growing in her. "And you didn't think to mention this earlier?"

"You can be hard to pin down." She said as a weak excuse. "And if Gabriel didn't think so, then I thought I was just being a bit paranoid."

"Who exactly do you believe to be on our tail?" She asked, and Sombra shifted.

"If it were Helix, I'd deal with them myself." She muttered, and Moira felt the dread in her stomach.

"You're telling me that Jack Morrison might have very well followed you." She deadpanned, and Sombra winced.

"Him, and Ana Amari." She agreed, crossing her arms and resting against the marble as well.

Moira cursed. "There are three people on this earth who would know Gabriel well enough to track him." She ran anxious fingers through red hair. "And you two have somehow managed to attract two out of three."

"Who's the third?" Sombra had the audacity to ask, and Moira pinned her with a glare. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to go get _him_ ," She snickered, and Moira put her face in her hand.

" _Don't_ tell me you've sought out Jesse."

"Oooh, so you're on first name basis with him." She teased, and Moira stood to her full height.

"He calls me Moira." She said, icy, "But that's of no consequence. _Have_ you sought out McCree, Sombra?"

She rolled her eyes. "He's not on our tail, Moira."

"He better not be, or I'll be getting bleach spots on all of your lingerie." Moira deadpanned, relaxing her shoulders as Sombra frowned at her threat. "If Morrison hasn't burst down our door, he doesn't know the location of this particular safe house." She reasoned with Sombra. "I would suggest somebody remain alert, but as I'm already awake, I can take first watch." She offered, and Sombra's lips purse, but she only nods.

"Don't be up too late." Sombra warned her, walking back inside, removing her shirt as she turned the corner, obviously heading to replace Gabriel's with Siebren's. "Especially if Gabe's gonna be cranky tomorrow morning."

As she was left alone in the dark night, the door closing behind Sombra with an air of finality, she sighed.

Ana Amari. That was a name she'd not heard in quite some time- and even then, only in past tense.

She'd known that the resilient woman had survived Lacroix for some time now. Even before Gabriel had reported seeing her in Cairo, backing up Jack Morrison, she'd had her doubts about if Lacroix had truly killed her.

Habeas Corpus, Gabriel had intoned lowly when McCree came back empty handed, no word about hospitals, nor in any morgue.

While context was incorrect- something Moira sharply told him off for- without a body, there was no proof she was dead. Only the belief, and Moira had never considered herself a believer.

She'd confided in Siebren to have someone with a bit more distance to the woman to talk to, and he'd been about as helpful as Gabriel had. _"So she's simply alive and dead at the same time." He'd rambled, "Until we can observe otherwise."_

But to mourn the dead and fear the wrath of the living at the same time had been quite the burden on Moira.

And she did, in fact, mourn, even if others did not know her burden.

There had been a time when on nights like this, she and the woman would exist in the company of the other, and talk on a level that no one else had with her. The closest thing to her relationship with Amari was whatever she had with Lacroix, and that was strangled by what Moira had done to her.

She was positive that what she had with Ana would be just the same, if it hadn't been killed by Amari herself in the scorching light of dawn, when she left Moira as a mistake.

And yet, Moira mourned her absence, as easy to recognize as that of the stars.

(She wouldn't allow herself to acknowledge her own beating heart, but others certainly did. Siebren, Gabriel, and even Angela knew that aspect of her well, no matter how badly she tried to hide it.)

It was why Gabriel hadn't directly mentioned Amari to her, she knows.

The pale moonlight holds no answers for her, and neither do the distantly twinkling stars. She allowed herself a few more minutes of silence to enjoy the night, resting her elbows on the marble, and leaning forward.

Clouds move in to block her view, and she shivers in the subtle chill of early February, deciding that it was past time to call it a night.

She shuddered as she stood, breathing in the empty night air, and turned to face the door once more, only to be stopped in her tracks.

She wasn't as alone as she'd thought.

A masked figure, short but commanding, stood in her way. A blue hijab wrapped around the face beneath it, a hood covering the head.

Moira knew who this was, without ever needing to see beneath the façade.

Ana's voice grinds out her name, anger laced under the blue ice. "Moira."

She dipped her head towards her, uncertain in her own voice in that minute.

"How dare you hide out here, of all places," She hissed, and here was where Moira found her voice.

"This was my home, not yours, Ana." She murmured, voice quiet. "I wasn't alone in claiming it."

"Gabriel's here, then." Ana understood perfectly, gaze intent beneath the mask not unlike the bird she took her name from staring at a lizard.

"Perhaps." Moira hummed, folding her arms. "You followed Reaper, did you not?"

"Don't play games with me." Ana cut her off, anger rising in her voice. "I know who Reyes is now."

"And yet, Morrison isn't with you." Moira observed, glancing around.

Caught in her act, Ana stayed silent, but Moira breathed in, understanding her game.

" _You_ were looking for him," She rationalized, understanding dawning on her. She laughed. " _You_ wanted to seek out Gabriel. Not for Morrison's mission, but for your own purposes."

Ana's fists bunch up, and Moira breathes out her amusement, understanding all too well that Amari could have killed her before Moira had noticed her. "But you're here for me too." She tilted her head at the shorter woman. "Otherwise I'd be dead."

"Jack's wounds aren't healing." Ana snapped at her, and Moira lifted her hands. "I know that's your doing."

"Gabriel's doing." Moira corrected, before she bends a little. "Granted, my technology is at fault for the aftermath, but… I did not shoot Morrison."

"How do I fix it?" Ana asked, as though she were entitled to that answer, and Moira laughed louder now.

"You don't." She said, a vicious smile on her lips. "There's nothing conventional medicine can do to fix it. Technically, if he hadn't been enhanced, he'd already be dead. That _was_ what Gabriel was hoping for."

Amari punched her. She staggered for a moment, wide eyed, before she regained her footing.

"I'm not playing games, O'Deorain," Ana grinds out, as though Moira believed any of this was a game. Moira rubbed the hit skin with a purple hand, raising an eyebrow at her in disbelief.

"That was uncalled for." Moira muttered, and though she can't see it, she's certain that the woman's eyes narrowed beneath the mask.

"As though getting your new sniper to murder me was called for?"

"It is bold that you assumed I was the one who put in the order." Moira pursed her lips. "That there was an order for your death, really. Had you listened to Morrison, I'm positive you would have come out unscathed. However, I also knew you were unlikely to listen to him."

"People died, Moira."

"People die every day, Ana." She pointed out, absent from herself, able to be a bit more objective. "In both our lines of work. Good, bad, these are all labels to make some deaths seem worse than others."

"This world would be better if you had died in Zurich." Ana growled, and Moira resisted the pain that caused her.

"Perhaps." She allowed. "Or perhaps it'd be worse. There's always someone else waiting in the wings, Ana. It is unlikely that in the case of my death Talon would stop using my research- my involvement was never critical to them, just a lucky bonus." Moira sat on the marble railing. "I only just escaped Zurich, after all. I was never an essential player."

She could feel the skin and bone of her face ache, knowing full well that would purple and bruise. "I'm afraid Gabriel is unavailable at the moment. He is here, but receiving treatment. The idiot pushed himself too far. Just because he can survive explosions doesn't mean I recommend him jumping into them." She scoffed. "While I'm not thrilled at the idea, I can likely concoct something for Morrison's injury. That is, if you trust me not to just give you poison." She added the last sentence in as a more personal jab, given how many times they shared tea together.

"I'll make you drink it first." Ana reflexively said, before seeming to realize what Moira was getting at. "How many of yours are in there?" She said rather than addressing that any further.

Moira mentally counted the bodies, before saying, "Five, including myself. But so long as I escort you, they won't pay you mind. They're asleep anyways, perhaps with the exception of Sombra, who was out here earlier."

"How long would it take you to make it?" Ana asked, and Moira shrugged.

"You're lucky you found me with my equipment. It shouldn't take too horribly long. Maybe a few hours?" She rubbed her neck, before she looks to the door. "That is, if you let me get started."

Ana was tense on her balcony, but she nodded tersely, the motion hardly visible, and stepped aside to allow Moira to go in.

Moira nodded back, and walked in leisurely. "Remain quiet, I don't particularly want Lacroix to see you if I can help it. Sombra can be bought off, and Siebren won't care. This hopefully won't take too long."

Ana stayed on the balcony for a moment longer, seeming to hesitate, before she allowed herself into the apartment building behind Moira. Moira didn't comment on it, knowing all too well the sensation of lowering oneself into the lion's den.

Color her surprised when she turned on the light in her lab and found Siebren floating around Gabriel's treatment pod, Sombra amusedly propped up on Moira's office chair.

Both looked at her like they'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and Moira tensed all the way up.

"Dr. O'Deorain!" Siebren cheerfully broke the silence, trying to act like he hadn't been discretely examining Gabriel, interrupting his treatment. "So sorry to, heh, be in your lab like this! I was woken when Sombra here came rifling around for a shirt, and I realized that now would be a perfect time to investigate some of Reyes' fantastic anomalies."

Sombra had to hold back a snort, before Moira pinned her with a chilly look as well. "And you were here because…?"

"Well, I wasn't." She scoffed, translocating in that very next instant, leaving Siebren behind to take the fall.

Moira pinched her brow, sighing. "Dr. De Kuiper, while I appreciate your endless interest in my research, interrupting his treatment out of curiosity isn't precisely the way to get Gabriel to display his powers for you."

He gave her a sheepish smile, closing the tube back up before Moira had a chance to. "He isn't exactly keen on talking to me, in spite of my best efforts. I really have no idea how Sombra manages to be so brazen with him."

"That's because he's not keen on talking." Moira explained, simply. "Sombra does what she wants, and gets away with it because of her unique skillset."

Siebren paused, seeming to realize something. "Wait, what on earth are you still doing up! Reyes' treatment clock mentioned he'd been put up hours ago. Dr. O'Deorain, I surely hope you're not overexerting yourself."

Moira sighed, finally deciding to drop formalities. "Siebren, our condition means we can get away with ignoring certain human formalities. And please, I've told you before, when we're off hours you may call me by my first name." She finally stepped into her lab, Siebren awkwardly floating away, watching her closely. "As it happens, I actually need to finish something else entirely. If you'll excuse me."

"Oh, sorry, Moira. Again, terribly sorry for intruding here," He laughed, awkward, letting her pass, and she was hopeful that he'd go out the other exit before he noticed their unexpected company.

However, she was disappointed that his observational skills had returned to him so fast. "Oh, she's new. Doesn't look like one of ours either."

"She's- ugh. It's not important." Moira sighed, shoulders drooping. "Just don't tell anyone that she's here, alright?"

"That implies to me that she is important." Siebren rationalized, curious. "Especially if _you're_ doing something for her off the books. But, well," He floated over to her, examining the blue mask, trying to place it. The woman was tense, her hand tight on her gun. "I won't mention it."

"You wouldn't know her, Siebren." Moira told him to alleviate his awkwardness.

"Oh! I just, well. The mask, you know." He gestured to Reaper. "Typically special masks are higher ups." He offered her a hand, and Ana recoiled at first. "Dr. Siebren De Kuiper, astrophysicist. Another friend of Moira's, I presume?"

Ana stared at the hand, and then at the face that belied no malice, smiling all much too like the man she was here for. "Ana Amari." She tentatively said, taking the hand and shaking it.

"That name, it's familiar." Siebren thought on that hard, and Ana tilted her head in confusion. Moira sat at her office chair, scoffing.

"Ana- he's had some…memory loss." Which while correct, put it mildly. "Siebren, she was the former SIC of Overwatch, and a hero of the omnic crisis." Moira explained distractedly, pulling up her work, before Siebren's fingers snapped.

"Ah! Right! This is your Schrödinger's cat!" He announced, and Moira inhaled deeply, eyes searching the yellow ceiling for any potential divine end, rather than unpack that for Ana. She put her nose into her work, deciding to ignore the conversation behind her in favor of her work.

"She's mentioned me?" Ana asks, seeming amused with Siebren, which was the best-case scenario, really. "And as both alive and dead."

"Oh, yes, she talked about you quite at length, really." He chuckled again, settling down. "Someone she cared about so deeply, vanishing entirely. Neither alive nor dead until further proof showed otherwise. She's got this beautiful flower garden in Oasis where she told me she's planted flowers that remind her of," Moira coughed loudly, finding it incredibly hard to ignore the embarrassing things Siebren was saying.

"Oh." Siebren realized his faux pas. "Right. The other part of that story." He grew more somber. "But- you were Overwatch, yes? I understand that Reyes here was too, though my memories of that are…scattered, a bit."

Ana inhales sharply. "I realize where I recognize you from. You're the scientist from the ISS explosion." She murmured, quiet. "I thought you died from injuries sustained, though."

Siebren froze mid air at the mention of his incident, and Moira stood quickly, walking over to him and putting a hand on his shoulder, looking directly at Ana.

The woman was surprised, but had removed her mask entirely, revealing the blow where Lacroix almost took her from the world. "Siebren, it's alright." Moira soothed, rubbing circles into his shoulder. "He survived, they locked him up in the aftermath because of that they could not control. But we broke him out." She held him down where the man was definitely attempting to float upwards.

"Talon broke him out?" Ana asked, obviously thinking that it wasn't out of the goodness of their hearts. Moira fixed her with a look, and then gestured with her chin to Siebren's face, which was growing a bit anxious, pieces of the lab floating around him.

"Yes. Siebren works for us now. At present, he's spending time with me, his colleague." Ana seemed uneasy with the answer, but backed off from that front, knowing better than to question a man defying gravity on earth.

"Ah, yes," Siebren stuttered, trying to regain control of himself quickly. "We were in Moira's lab in Oasis a few weeks ago, but she had to travel to Venice, and then we met again here. Lacroix came with her. However, she mentioned that Sombra and Reyes had business elsewhere. They returned today, though, as you can see."

Confident that she'd averted an attack, she stalked back to her station, ignoring Ana's curious looks at her entirely.

"What is Reyes like, Siebren," Ana went for an unusual route of conversation, and Moira pulled up her genetic schematics, frowning as she began to resolve a way to undo the damage her work had done.

Behind her, Siebren chuckled, nervous. "Ah, well. He and I don't have the time to talk to each other often. But as for any impression I have of him? He's quite a hard nut, very growly. He lets Sombra- our youngest by far- get away with calling him nicknames and making fun of him, so I assume he cannot be…hm, what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Unhinged?" Ana offered, dryly, and Siebren shifted mid-air, knowing all too well how often that word had been applied to him. Moira didn't correct her this time, preferring to watch her realize that the word might have other connotations with him.

"I _think_ I was going for uncaring. Ogundimu and Maximilien don't tolerate nonsense, but Reyes does." Siebren eventually managed, and Moira mentally noted that he was getting far better at interacting with others. She could still recall the days when he would barely utter a word; his blue eyes vacant, rambling about a melody no one else could hear under his breath.

His improvement was a good thing, but bad as well. They relied heavily on his disconnect with reality to use him properly. Ideally, she wouldn't be forced to break him.

(She wasn't certain she could handle that burden.)

A couple mice could be let out of the cage, she knew, thinking of Sombra's 'friend'. But Siebren wasn't just any regular mouse. That kind of loss would be unacceptable.

She turned to her work again, and tried to focus on it, and not the depressing idea of destroying the man she'd been rebuilding all over again, with no illusions as to what it was she was doing this time.

Whatever they'd continued talking about had returned to her, and she had to break her concentration as Siebren repeated her name.

"Sorry, I know you're working, but…" He rolled a hand. "Ana was asking if you and Gabriel were friends."

Moira sat up straight at that, and mentally catches on a snag. "Friends?" She echoed, looking to Amari a bit angrily. She couldn't well say aloud that friends were a luxury in Talon; she didn't want to make something appear off to Siebren. "I suppose so. He's busy most of the time, but…" She was a bit lost for words. "If either of us need something, the other is who we go to."

"I find it hard to imagine Reyes needing much of anything!" Siebren joked. "Or you asking for help."

"Both are rare occurrences," Moira agreed, choosing not to remind him that Gabriel had shown up at her doorstep, battered and bruised and not needing to explain a word before Moira had fixed her Reaper. "We don't have to talk to understand the other. Surely you've noticed that, Siebren."

"A fascinating thought." Siebren moved on, going back to examining Gabriel. "Sombra had asked if I could intercept your telepathic communications with him, but I've never gotten anything off you."

Moira resisted the urge to groan. "That's because it's not telepathy in the way you're thinking. Our shared genetics- yes, the smoke, Siebren, connect us, and the nanomachines only strengthened it. It's a closed network, and it's more complicated than just thinking to him. Don't mention it to Sombra, we like to watch her squirm."

Ana was staring hard at her, obviously recalling accusing Gabriel of that truth, retelling it to Moira. Back when things were good. Before their tryst, before Moira was nothing, before Moira was perfect for a time and then left more broken than ever.

It's strange to hear herself call anything in Overwatch good, but it was. Good, that was. Gabriel was whole and himself and didn't rely on Moira's memories to piece himself back together, and everyone might not have recognized her for her brilliance but there were people who mattered and they did notice her.

Moira had mattered too.

She turned back to her work, and ignored the woman altogether, content to let Siebren finally have someone better to talk to than a cagey woman scared to let anyone else close, a broken man fracturing apart, an empty killing shell, and a hacker who wouldn't even give him a real name.

At some point, Siebren fell asleep on the floor next to Moira, and Ana went quiet.

Time passed in the way it usually did- without a care for Moira. Ana spoke once more.

"He's nice. Frankly, I didn't expect anyone in Talon to be…"

"Friendly?" Moira finished, quiet, "He's a good man. Broken, in more ways than you know, but…kind." She fiddled with her projections, nails tapping glass. "It doesn't bode well for him. Not with the power he wields."

"So you are controlling him." Ana almost sounded disappointed, and Moira felt her shoulders sag.

"Control is a strong word. His mind, no matter how well he just spoke to you, was shattered. Is, shattered, in a lot of ways. He can be guided. Persuaded. Part of that broken man wants to enact horrific violence. We just have to use it to our advantage."

Ana let out a disgusted noise, and Moira only felt the pang for a moment.

"They weren't going to fix him there, either, Ana." Moira murmured. "At least here, he has the sun on his skin, and he can see the night sky again. He was locked up for years. We all have what freedoms we can carve out, here."

Lacroix and her lonely manor, Sombra and her schemes and secrets, Reaper and his carefully laid out chain of memories to visit when he couldn't recall them.

Moira and her secret garden filled with Ana's flowers.

"Look at him and tell me that he's worse off like this, after spending a decade in a secret government facility in isolation because of his mental state. Honestly, tell me that what we've done is worse."

Ana said nothing, which was Moira's confirmation that it wasn't.

It was just a different kind of evil enacted on someone who had no ability to understand.

"Is Gabriel the same?" Ana has the gall to ask, and Moira pauses from where her work is mostly finished, to look at her.

"The same as Siebren?" She questioned, tired. "If you're saying that I'm controlling Gabriel, even persuading him into doing this, you're wrong." She disagreed. "If I left, he'd bring me back or kill me. We joined Talon together. If you're asking if the man you knew wasn't a traitor hellbent on murdering you and Morrison but hid it well, you're getting closer." She stood, and walked to the tube, lifting the lid to show him to Amari. "He's dying. Has been for years now. I've stalled it, but…it's hard to entirely cure. Some of the symptoms I've noticed are memory loss, and personality changes. Faster temper, heightened irritability. I don't doubt that someone in Talon had the thought to manipulate such a person. But just as I try and protect that softness in Siebren, I try to hold as much of Gabriel together as I can. But it may be an exercise in futility. Someone will eventually decide, with both of them, that these aspects aren't useful. And eliminate them. In Gabriel's case, he's hidden away parts of himself in small corners of the world that are abandoned. So that he can try and piece himself back together if he ever got too far."

"If you're trying to say that Gabriel isn't too far gone right now, you have to be joking me."

"I'm not disagreeing." Moira hummed, turning back to her work, letting Ana examine Gabriel without her watching. "His treasure hunt would only work if he remembered that he made it. And if someone else hadn't found it."

"Your coworkers?" Ana mocked, a bit unconvinced.

Moira shook her head. "McCree, I believe. Gabriel had gotten to the point he couldn't recall the true nature of his relationship with our courageous cowboy. We were in Deadlock Gorge, and his stash had been taken by someone else, and as we found McCree's belt, it was almost certainly him."

"He'd forgotten McCree?" Ana asked, going from disbelieving to horrified at a detail like that.

"He knew of him. But only as…an imprint, of what was." Moira explained. "Even you and Morrison are echoes, losing significance and influence with each reverberation. The later years remain more clear than the earlier ones."

"When we were at our worst." Ana obviously realized what Moira was saying in too many words. "Wouldn't it be better off…simply putting him out of his misery? If the Gabriel Reyes of a decade ago saw himself now, wouldn't he want him dead?"

"His daughter has tested positive for his condition." Moira cut off that train of thought. "He's enough of Gabriel to know that he has to fix that- that I have to fix that. If I cannot cure him, I likely will not have the opportunity to cure her."

Ana went deathly quiet after that, and Moira closed her eyes as her hand pulled out her biotic nanomachines, reprogramming them with the correction for Morrison's current problem.

Carefully, she bottled it in glass, and handed it to Amari.

Amari looked at her mistrustfully, and Moira returned her stare evenly. She took a sip, swallowing, and shrugging.

"I wouldn't resort to that sort of subterfuge now." Moira murmured. "Not with you here with me. It would have been easier to simply get Siebren to kill you. Or else, I could have done it myself."

Ana took the bottle from her, and put it into her rucksack.

"What was that night, to you?" Ana asked, and Moira felt her throat clog with grief and anguish. "Every now and again I turn it over in my mind, looking for the cracks in your façade, for the goal of the game and I can't figure it out."

"There was no façade, Ana." She splayed her fingers out on her thigh. "No game. You needed something, and you took it from me. Nothing that wasn't willingly given, but…" Words escaped her for only a moment. "But I thought it was me you needed. Me you wanted." Her hands balled up. "But it was just the release you were after. I was, as always, just a tool, but not even the right one."

A mistake.

The word hangs tight in the air between them, and it was a pressure that Ana seemingly couldn't take.

"Moira…" Ana tried, and Moira held up a shaking hand.

"Go back to Morrison, Ana." She murmured, staring at Siebren. "There's nothing for you here but skeletons and ghosts. Our past is behind us and long gone. There is my future, and your future, and I know that they will not align. The dream ended with that dawn."

"Overwatch is going to kill you all." Ana stated, a weight to her expression that Moira couldn't read.

"They are welcome to try." Moira coolly replied. "Morrison too, for that matter."

"Why align yourself with Talon? Why not get out, take your people with you?" Ana asked, her outrage finally leading to the right questions. "Why did you want to be mine, and yet belong to Talon?"

"There was nothing else to be done. No one else to go to about it. Our backs firmly against the wall, and a knife to our throat. Better to be killed there than to be transported to the unknown." Moira rationalized. "Gabriel had been too far gone, even then. I couldn't see it then, but time lets me see it now. But who would have given me the time of day? Trusted me at my word?"

She can physically see Ana bite down on the words, ' _I would have,'_ obviously recalling the same nervous woman waiting for her in the dining area, hovering over boiling water, seeking her usual companion for advice.

"Don't agonize over it." Moira said, detached. "The powers at be were counting on you to keep me in line. We've all played our roles in this puppet show well. None of us have had choices that weren't already made."

"It sounds like you and Jack have more in common than you think." Ana remarked, and Moira lifted an eyebrow in disbelief. "You both think that there's a bigger picture. You both think your role is unchangeable."

"He's not wrong." Moira placidly said. "But if he thinks that I am where the image ends, that Gabriel is the biggest fish…he's wrong." She laughed, lowly. "There are things that are beyond he and I. And Morrison best take care not to be pinned underneath them once more."

Ana went silent then, seemingly having no more words for her.

"If the worst does happen. And Overwatch manages to get its act together, monkey warts and all…" Moira shifted on her feet, leaning over to Siebren, slowly pulling him upwards. His natural gravity defiance was a blessing, then. "I only ask that you try and get him out in one piece. He's brilliant, and he's kind." She struggled, knowing her demons too well. "Of all of us, he didn't choose this in any way."

"Neither did Amélie." Ana said, and Moira was silent.

"Lacroix isn't the same anymore. She didn't choose at first, but she eventually chose to stay. Reyes didn't choose at first, but he also has chosen to follow down this path." She licked her lips. "Sombra is her own dilemma. Her priorities are obscure to me, but she is capable of making her own choices. As am I. Reyes is here, my research is here; my path forward, is here."

"If you could get out now, would you?" Ana asked, and Moira balked, the two of them stopped in the doorway.

"Hypotheticals aren't helpful." She said instead of answering.

"Would you?" Ana presses, and Moira lets her gaze turn distant.

"What point would that have?" She closed her eyes. "I had been silenced by all, long before I had even joined. Left to rot. Only known for my mistakes and hasty missteps."

"Would you start over?" Ana presses on, getting a bit fed up with her, frankly. Moira understood.

"I don't know." Moira deflected, quiet, "I don't know if I could, but if that first question was…yes, I could, then…would I?" She stared down at Siebren, back to where Reyes slumbered and recovered. "If a path forward was there and better than our current path, then of course. I'd be a fool to leave myself chained to Talon. Chaos will not advance anything."

"You have to give some kind of signal." Ana said, obviously trying to say something to be helpful. Damn Amari and her nagging, she knew all too well from Reyes' fraying consciousness how she could be. "A sign that you aren't simply a villain."

"If it were simply that easy I would have done it already." She muttered. "And even then, what would I say that wouldn't immediately give me away? They have no reason to listen to me."

"Dr. De Kuiper was a colleague of Dr. Harold Winston." Ana spelled it out for her, and Moira finally gave real thought to it.

"Did they know each other?" She asked, and Ana nodded.

"Dr. De Kuiper spent time on the moon." She continued, and the light bulb went off in her head, clearly understanding Ana's point.

"The monkey." Moira breathed, the epiphany suddenly there. "You think he'd help?"

Ana looked less certain, and she turned down, looking to Siebren, and then back to Moira. "It has to be worth a try, yes?"

"If it failed, and I died, caught doing so, it would have been for nothing." Moira muttered, and Ana said nothing on that, moving on instead.

"I hid from the world for years, Moira. From my mistakes."

"If you went back now, you'd be accepted with open arms."

"By most but not my daughter." Ana reminded, and it was Moira's turn for contemplation. "I understand broken bridges. But if it's for those we care about, we try in spite of the danger."

"Hence why you're here for Morrison and Reyes." Moira stated the obvious, and Ana stared at her for a long moment.

"I didn't come on Morrison's behalf, though I knew you could cure him. I also didn't reveal myself to Reyes."

"Let the night hide our secret." Moira bitterly recalled, and Ana nodded, slowly. "You don't even trust me now."

"So give me a reason to." Ana hardened. "Moira, no one can get you out of there but you. You are brilliant, but you are self defeating. You talk about how you didn't have a choice, but you have one now. No one can make it for you."

She turned in the hallway, and started walking back to the balcony. "The ghost watches, Moira. You have a chance. You say you care about him, so prove it. Prove that your loyalty isn't to Talon. Don't let another tragedy happen."

The woman finally left, not bothering with goodbyes. Moira was used to that, but she stared after her, at where her frame had existed in a way she'd been unable to do the night of their tryst.

She didn't have the urge to cry anymore, her medication took care of such minor emotional disturbances, but there was intense longing in that thing in her chest.

For her to follow, to try a different path; for Moira to try again at whatever Ana represented.

Moira was left alone in the moonlight, a sliver of it breaking through the window, and she had to finally push Siebren to bed, and think of her options forward, really, _truly_ think of them.

_(If Gabriel continues like this, there won't be anything left of him to cure.)_

_(If Siebren fails, or if he realizes what we're doing with him, he will be eliminated.)_

_(Eventually someone will ask for Lacroix to be readjusted to 'fix' her and her fraternizing with Sombra.)_

_(Sombra herself might be placed on Moira's table, with orders to 'fix' her.)_

_(Some took Moira's testing on rabbits to mean she felt no love for them, but in truth, her rabbits were something Moira cherished more than any human. Almost more than any other human.)_

XXXXX

A week after the Paris attack, Athena chimes with a notification.

"Winston, there seems to be communication in response to the Recall." That got Tracer excited, and Winston up out of bed. While they were all much better off with Reinhardt, Brigitte, Genji, Mercy and Echo joining them, the more the merrier was their motto.

"It's from an unknown Blackwatch communicator." Her tone indicated some confusion. "Additionally, they've not named themselves or given any identification."

"Unknown?" Tracer echoed, and looked at Winston. "It's not McCree, right?"

Winston shook his head. "McCree has his own line," He reminded. "Echo told us about that. And it can't be him trying to hide from us, not if this person messaged us directly."

"I gotta say, I'm not too sure about some unknown member of Blackwatch just joining up." Tracer murmured, and Winston privately agreed, but he opened the message anyways.

What was in the message was not someone wanting to join up, but something entirely different.

_Hello, Winston,_

_I have to say, if you're reading this, you've already done more than I thought you would. Blackwatch is such a stain on Overwatch's record, but I had no other way of contact that was safely encrypted on my side. I'm messaging you the medical records of a person of interest to you, in the hopes that you may…assist, if and when the time comes. I only ask that you look at the files. Please, scan them all you like before you open them, they hold no viruses nor malware._

_Null sector and Talon are making their moves, and I cannot disclose much about that considering my current position. I cannot help you any more than this._

_Don't look for me,_

_Lotus Eater_

"Athena, can you verify the statement?" Winston asked, and Tracer balked in shock.

"No! You have to delete that message!" She said, outraged. "It sounds like this person is in Talon!"

"All the more reason to believe them." Winston rationalized. "It's dangerous for them to have messaged us. It's worth at least seeing what's in the files."

"The scan is clear, Winston." Athena confirmed, though she seemed uneasy. "Winston, Tracer might be correct. Blackwatch had very members who were extremely talented at hacking and other forms of cyber-terrorism."

"Be prepared to quarantine any virus." Winston eventually decided. "But this person sent a message for me about someone I might have known. It might be information about the Horizon. I have to see why they wanted me."

Tracer looked unhappy with him, but she said nothing else, sitting back in her seat and looking away, upset.

He opened the file, and his eyes widened in shock. "Dr. De Kuiper…" He immediately recognized the man, in spite of how much older he looked in the photograph, his eyes distant, clearly in a straightjacket.

"It's a threat! Of course." Tracer snarked, but Winston just started reading.

"This photo wasn't taken by Talon, and this record wasn't written by them either." Winston disagreed. "The ISS and The Hague released a joint statement that confirmed his death from injuries sustained, well over a decade ago." He paused. "But this record makes no sense. The official story was that he died after the explosion from his experiment. Here it talks about gravity fluctuating around him, and it refers to Dr. De Kuiper as an…it." He sees the indication on the left. "Subject Sigma has ceased responding to external stimulate in every way except for the changes in gravity surrounding it. It shows no sign of progress or potential recovery. We recommend moving resources away from it to projects with better outcomes."

"They just…locked him up?" Tracer asked, her anger finally seeming to die down as she listened to Winston. "Why?"

"The document states that he was severely mentally damaged," Winston murmured, knowing all too well she was envisioning herself in that position. "Glancing over it, apparently they think that the trauma forced a schizophrenic break with reality, and combined with the presence of gravitic anomalies that matched his mood swings, he was deemed unsafe." Winston shifted, "Notes mention that he spoke of the universe 'singing' to him."

He scrolled down, and was deeply unsettled to find medical records that definitely were from Talon.

"They refer to him as De Kuiper." Winston noted.

"That's a low bar." Tracer muttered.

"They broke him out from somewhere…" Winston looked through the record. "It's redacted, as is whoever wrote this report. Whoever wrote it talks about him pretty favorably. They mention him gaining control of his powers, and him managing a recovery." He chuckles a bit at the writer disparaging his former captives. "The author's theory is that it wasn't schizophrenia, but his new powers that simply overwhelmed him, ripping his mind apart. As he gained control of his powers, more of Dr. De Kuiper came back." He pauses as he notes the final remarks, and reads them aloud. "While I am thrilled to have such a fantastically brilliant colleague to work alongside, I cannot help but think to what will happen if the others decide we don't need his full personality. As the one who has overseen his dramatic recovery… I worry his kind nature will be something they eventually decide to get rid of. For now…I just hope he remains unaware of his new reality; as long he is malleable, there's no reason for them to intervene. But with how far he has already come, I fear that the day will come sooner than I can prepare for it."

"Winston," Tracer said, and Winston nodded to acknowledge her, as he was unable to find words. "Do…do you think that his doctor is whoever messaged us?"

"These do look like personal records." Winston agreed. "Maybe they're asking help getting him out of Talon."

Neither of them wanted to say it, but to their knowledge, there was only one doctor in Blackwatch; the enigmatic Moira O'Deorain. There had always been rumors of her working in Talon, and it was all too easy to picture her there now.

Where the image broke was the one of someone who cared about another person, to message the enemy in a bid for help.

"Echo?" Winston gave into temptation. "Can I borrow you? I need you to verify something for me."

The omnic popped her head into the room, and Winston showed her the original note, letting her examine it carefully.

"Does the writing style…remind you of anybody?" He asked after a moment, and Echo hummed.

"While the message itself is very short, and therefore hard to be certain… I recognize the agent ID. That is Gabriel Reyes' private line, Blackwatch Agents only. That indicates to me that Gabriel Reyes, Jesse McCree, or Moira O'Deorain must have written this. Given that Reyes is dead, and Jesse definitely doesn't have that communicator, I am left with Moira O'Deorain, though the reference to the Odyssey was very typical for Reyes. If there is a larger sample, I can definitely assess it further." She turned to Winston, and tilted her head. "Was that helpful?"

"It…was the answer we thought." Winston agreed, tepid. "What did you think about Moira O'Deorain, Echo? Did you ever cross paths?"

"I know that Jesse hates her, and Dr. Ziegler severely dislikes her. However, Commander Reyes and her were very close." Echo hummed, quiet, tapping her fingers. "I didn't meet her myself. However, Dr. Liao sympathized with her a lot. The restrictions placed on both of their work were…from a similar place of fear. I feel that Dr. Liao was jealous that Moira was free to do as she liked under Blackwatch, while Mina was Overwatch proper. Though she never said as much to McCree, given his distaste for the woman."

Tracer and Winston met each other's gaze, both nervous.

"We think she may have sent us someone's files…trying to help us find them, and get them out of Talon." Tracer hesitantly said, not necessarily believing it herself.

Echo tilted her head in interest, and Winston showed off the other files. Shock melted very quickly into empathy, reading through notes at lightning speeds, even faster than Winston could.

Echo's face melted into Dr. Liao's almost unconsciously as she turned to Winston, determination set in her expression. "We have to help them. Message Lotus Eater to let her know you received her message. I wouldn't indicate that we are confident that we know her identity, lest we scare her off."

"Wait a second," Tracer paused, swallowing. "Why would Moira have Commander Reyes' private communicator? Wouldn't he have died with it on him?"

Echo faltered, and Winston couldn't speak it aloud.

"No!" Tracer denied, reflexively. "I, he wouldn't…" Her voice quieted, thinking about that terrible idea hurt them all. "He was against Talon- against Null sector. I can't picture him as working with them."

"He might not be." Echo placated. "You're right, Reyes was a good man and a good leader who believed in Overwatch's vision from the start. I have a hard time picturing him as working with Talon. Moira might have taken it from Reyes during Zurich, or she'd gotten hold of it beforehand."

Winston kept his thoughts to himself, about how the Commander's shotguns and the fact he and McCree referred to him as 'monkey' shook a little too close to the recent attacks from Reaper, and then there were the whispers of Reyes' powers from the SEP. He knows that Reyes left an impression on Tracer when the man helped her through her first mission.

He hoped, for all their sakes, that he was wrong about that.

XXXXX

They took their time with writing her back, but eventually the notification came.

" _Lotus Eater,_

_We've received your message. When the time comes, we'll be ready to step in and help. Any heads up you can give us is useful- especially as to your Nobody's condition._

_Homeric Galley."_

Moira scoffed reading the message over, but pocketed the comm once more, something tight in her chest finally eased.

"Who was that," her Reaper asked, and Moira gave him the exact same response he'd accepted from Doomfist.

"No one you should worry about." She responded calmly. "…Any news on Morrison or Amari?"

"They've followed us to Europe, but there's been no sign of them since." Reaper answered easily. "I'm on the lookout for them, as is Sombra."

"Mmm." She recalled the night on the balcony in Venice, the fact that Ana had been right underneath their noses. "Keep me updated. And try not to get caught in any more explosions, Reyes. Your condition is only relatively stable- not cured."

"So get cracking." Reyes deadpanned, leaving the room with a flurry of smoke. She watched as he left, set off by her mentioning his condition, and she breathed out again.

A tap came on her shoulder, and Moira smoked away instinctively, reappearing a good 10 feet away.

Sombra snickered. "Easy. I'm not Amari." She mocked, and Moira's stomach dropped. "And if I was going to rat you out to him, I already would have." She held up the comm, amused. "Does he know you have this?"

"He asked me to keep it for him, yes." Moira agreed, still nervous about Sombra bringing this up now.

"Does he know who you've messaged?" She asked, toying with Moira like a cat toys with a meal. Moira didn't answer, which was an answer all on its own.

Sombra tilted her head at her. "You know, I had doubts about you. You were _kind_ of a hard person to pin down. But you have your weaknesses." She turned the comm over in her hand. "And your friends. I could use a friend like you."

"Weren't we friends already?" Moira asked, arching her brow, knowing all too well that 'friends' was too broad a term for their work relationship.

The other woman gave her a tense smile. "You know what I mean. You have your motivations, and I have my own. But I think I could always use a favor from you in the future."

"I already do you favors." Moira scoffed. "I've not touched Lacroix's personality modulator in years. I know you like this one." Sombra tensed at that, so that was the wrong answer.

"Not what I meant." She shook the communicator. "You have access to medical files and records that I don't. As fun as sneaking around is, I'd rather not hack into something if I can just get it from you."

"You want those? Why?" She asked, a bit confused, and Sombra shrugged.

"If you have the information, you have the power." She said, enigmatically. Moira nodded, and stood up straight, letting her breathing even out.

"Yes. I believe I can give you that without much trouble. Some of those files took some time to amass, but…I can find the ones you're after." Moira agreed, quiet. "And you may ask me any questions, if they are something I can answer."

"What do you mean by personality modulator?" Sombra asked, getting closer, and lowering her voice.

"When Talon acquired Lacroix, they installed something directly into her brain." Moira murmured. "The doctor I replaced was the one who did that particular procedure. However, I was naturally brought into the project to…adjust it, as needed. I've not touched it in some time. But like with Siebren, there is always a possibility that someone will ask that I change it to suit their preferences."

"How much free will does she have?" Sombra asked, a bit quieter.

"Enough." Moira stated, though the uncertainty in her own thoughts is clear. "Enough for her to have learned to dislike me. Enough to seek you out for pleasure. Enough to make certain choices." She let that sit. "You've likely not noticed it, but as someone who's known her from the start of her new life, she's become more and more of an individual. She likes gambling, enjoys her work; even takes pride in it. Not an it, but a she. She's even taken on more of her past self, her maiden name, her family's abandoned Chateau."

"So she didn't have it at first, but…you've let her develop it?" She confirmed, and Moira nodded. "And Gabe- did the same thing happen to him? I've found old files from Maximilien that talk about how you had him under your thumb. But it doesn't make sense to hide this from him if you did. So what gives?"

"Gabriel doesn't have a chip in his head. His genetic condition- which I am curing, not the cause of- led to pretty severe amnesia, mood swings and imbalances and general mental instability." She pursed her lips. "Initially when Talon recruited me, Gabriel was…on death's door, and I used programmed nanites to, well, give an unconscious almost corpse a consciousness. I gave it a personality, gave it his alternate identity and called it my Reaper. Talon met this and assumed things. You should know about never correcting false assumptions. But I used their money to wake Gabriel back up."

"So is he the nanites or is he Gabriel?" Sombra asked, confused.

Moira shrugged. "Frankly at this point, not even I am certain. The nanites are what are keeping him alive, holding him together. They had a personality different from Gabriel, mainly because they couldn't access Reyes' memories, only the surface level. He did wake back up, after I was able to medicate him again. But after the explosion in Zurich, even when I think it _is_ Gabriel, it's not quite him anymore." She sighed. "I tell him, if he progresses much further there won't be anything of him left for me to cure."

"How do you fix it, then?" Sombra asked, and Moira gave her a long-suffering scowl.

"If I knew how, I already would have done so. Fixing what the SEP did to him isn't an exact science. By all means, he should be dead already, a few times over. He's not, but it's difficult to find the time in the day to just work on him given how much he's been convinced to work hard to enact his revenge on Overwatch."

Sombra made a frustrated noise, and Moira nodded, sagely. "Yes, it's very difficult to resolve."

"You're getting the big guy out of here." Sombra noted, and Moira paused.

"Siebren is far more delicate and if he does realize the truth of his reality will be too dangerous to justify keeping." Moira explained, simply. "Gabriel's condition is steadily declining, while Siebren's is improving."

"He's at risk of someone else noticing that and taking preventative measures."

Moira nodded, glad Sombra understood. "Lacroix is the same. If someone else notices her…as being distracted, she will need to be brought back into line. But she's attached to her current position. If I mention betraying Talon to either of them…well." She shrugged. "I'm non essential. There are undoubtedly other doctors out there who could replace me, same as I replaced someone else."

"But you trust me with this information?" Sombra asked, and Moira nodded, calming entirely.

"You have your own goals, and they are separate from Talon's, Sombra. I've always known this, as has Reyes. You aren't as good as hiding it from us as you like to believe. You are lucky that Ogundimu enjoys a little ambition in his employees." Moira explained, collected. "If it were truly something I feared, as the person on the council, I would have already done something about it."

"Final question," Sombra leaned back, calm herself. "Though I still want those files."

"Ask away," Moira sat back down, holding her hand out for the comm that Sombra placed back in her hand.

"Morrison won't be able to help Gabe. Neither will Amari." Moira nodded at those two statements, stomach dropping. "But there are three people. And Jesse McCree is one of them. Would he help?"

"If he didn't outright kill both Gabriel and myself for being traitors," Moira nodded after a moment's consideration. "Yes, I imagine he would help Gabriel. The nanites and Gabriel both had a certain…affinity, to the man. Several items in Gabriel's chain of memories have to do with the cowboy. So, yes. Obviously Gabriel feels like Jesse is key in his life."

"But you feel like McCree will just kill you?"

Moira snorted. "He has always looked for reasons to- even when we were on the same side. I have no doubt if given the chance, he would end my existence entirely and relish in it. If he felt like Reyes betrayed him, betrayed Overwatch- as we both did, mind you- he'd shoot first and ask questions later." She folded her hands over her lap. "And then he'd regret it, of course, idiot that he is, but McCree is completely out of the question for me to contact."

"But not for me." Sombra gave a Cheshire grin, and Moira huffed.

"Aren't you listening? McCree would almost certainly kill Gabriel if he knew the truth. No ifs, ands, or buts."

"It's a good thing Gabe's hard to kill, then." Sombra shrugged. "I hear your concern, but…I mean, if Reaper hates Morrison, and Amari by extension, and there's no one else out there, he might be our only option."

"Or we could just continue to work for Talon," Moira deadpanned. "I do like being alive and trying to get Gabriel out will almost certainly lead to our deaths."

"Working for Talon also will almost certainly kill us." Sombra folded her arms. "Talon isn't exactly the most stable organization, and we have no qualms murdering each other when we get in the way. Come on, I thought Amari talked sense into you. You're smart, Dr. O'Deorain. You can think of something."

At the mention of her conversation with Amari, Moira swallowed. "Don't get your hopes up, Sombra. We're all in this boat together. The dreamer's punishment is that they see the dawn before the rest of the world."

Sombra's nose wrinkled. "So you do like literature. Gross." She muttered, handing her a letter. "Took this from one of Sanjay's mooks. He's apparently been stealing from you."

Moira took the envelope, and opened the ripped paper up after glancing at the shipping addresses. It was to her, from some hospital in Poland.

Inside was a single bullet- one that was all too familiar- and a letter, that had already been opened and read.

Moira read it now, quiet.

_Is there a way we can meet and share our love once more?_

_In the winter I used to wait on hot coals for your visits._

_Now I feel worse since you've gone and confirmed my fears._

_The nights roll on, but absence stays and patience won't free me from longing's grip._

_I hope God waters the new land that's become your home._

It was no letter, but a poem. She and Amari used to sit in the dining area of Overwatch and talk, and talk as they shared time in each other's company. She rubbed her fingertips over words like _love_ and _longing._

They knew Amari lived, knew of Moira's attachment to her.

She gently folded the letter, and placed it away in her chest pocket.

Ana's outraged question echoed in her mind.

" _Why did you want to be mine, and yet belong to Talon?"_

Because, she'd thought Ana had made her choice, and had isolated herself entirely, drugging herself and Reyes to rid them both of their emotions, leaving them completely open for Talon to manipulate.

" _Moira, no one can get you out of there but you. You are brilliant, but you are self defeating. You talk about how you didn't have a choice, but you have one now. No one can make it for you."_

Ana was right. Moira had her choices. And she still had choices. She just had to make them.

"Whose medical files are you after, Sombra?" Moira asked, forcing her voice to stay even, though she felt like splitting in two. "I'm not fond of people who make it their business to mess with what's mine."

The moon watched over them as they made their plans, and the ghost left her perch once again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed it! you can find me at @harmicist on twitter to yell at me. comments make my day.


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